I know this won't happen, but it's a ridiculous idea. Google's search revenue is what helps fund many of its other projects; they couldn't be separated.
European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
41–50 of 179 posts
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#42EU bureaucracy logic at its best - go after google and microsoft, but we let apple do whatever they want. For me they with their closed ecosystem are both bigger danger and more anti competitive than both Google and Microsoft combined. Or at least force them to accept other web browsers in their store.
You are completely wrong. Apple has a small market share, so it doesn't matter that they abuse it by disallowing e.g rival browsers and certain apps. It sucks, but one can use Android without too many headaches.
But Google search is more like a public utility than a service. It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc. And hypothetically speaking, at this point Google could just shove whatever they want down their throats and tell them to deal with it.
Oh wait they already did that with Google+
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#43EU bureaucracy logic at its best - go after google and microsoft, but we let apple do whatever they want. For me they with their closed ecosystem are both bigger danger and more anti competitive than both Google and Microsoft combined. Or at least force them to accept other web browsers in their store.
Apple don't have anything even vaguely approaching a monopoly in any area. Their market share in everything from phones to computers is 90% for search. You can't have a "Monopoly on the contents of the iPhone app store" any more than Coke has a "Monopoly on the contents of Coke cans", and thus should be forced to fill some with Pepsi.
Yup; but it may be impacted by some privacy regulations in the future.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know collectively Europe is the largest economy in the world? It's not something any company can just shrug away. I believe the goal of this and recent similar decisions is to fracture the internet, allowing for easier law making and rent seeking.
I understand how a fractured internet (In the physical sense, Europe here, US there, no easy interconnection) could lead to easier lives for politicians, but, How does a fractured google make that easier? I mean, where you had to deal with one entity, now you have to deal with two. It's more possible that one of them doesn't accommodate to your whims.
Google is the glue that holds the modern internet together through it's universal indexing, but it's based in the US, thus weakening the power of foreign governments.
A fractured google is easier to control. Right now, the French government could pass certain laws and Google could simply say no with few detrimental effects (French users would simply use a proxy). With a fractured Google, Google would need to hold all infrastructure servicing French search in France, or at least significant infrastructure, allowing the French government more leverage in law making, and rent seeking.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#45To copy from the previous discussion: I was blocked indefinitely from Adsense by Google's faulty algorithms (without explanation and with appeals rejected without explanation). I lost the revenue I'd earnt that month, and soon realised Google holds a monopoly in this space, and no one else offered a comparable service. I'm all for Google's stronghold to be broken. reply
Or people being locked out of their GMail account
This is the problem, and customer service in Google barely solves anything.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#46To copy from the previous discussion. These are the issues that are up for debate: >The manner in which Google displays its own vertical search services compared with other, competing products > How Google copies content from other websites - such as restaurant reviews - to include within its own services > The exclusivity Google has to sell advertising around the search terms people use > Restrictions on advertisers…
The intention was never to break them up. MEPs calling for it is just to show the EU Commission that they have the political support to take the gloves off. If you actually want to know the justification for the EU doing this you should read this paper by Ben Edelman. http://www.benedelman.org/publications/google-tying-2014-10-... He's consulted for various Google competitors but he's also a professor at Harvard Busi…
If by "consulted", you mean that Ben has been paid to come up with papers exactly like this for various anti-google lobbies, many many times over the past 10 years, then yes, he has "consulted".
Ben has literally no legal training in antitrust law that i'm aware of, so his opining on it is somewhat interesting.
(I edited this comment because Ben does have a JD from Harvard law that I forgot about, so he does have legal training, just not anything related to antitrust law)
When he's not writing antitrust papers, he's busy writing scare papers about click fraud, or online ad deals.
There are plenty of people who have views i disagree with, and respect. But folks like Ben, whose views seem to change entirely with who is paying him (i've watched him argue the same thing both ways depending on whether MS was doing it or Google was doing it), are not even worth arguing with.
You only have to look at his testimony list to see where his views lie, and have since 2006.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#47To copy from the previous discussion: I was blocked indefinitely from Adsense by Google's faulty algorithms (without explanation and with appeals rejected without explanation). I lost the revenue I'd earnt that month, and soon realised Google holds a monopoly in this space, and no one else offered a comparable service. I'm all for Google's stronghold to be broken. reply
I'm in minority, but with all VCs funding available today I just don't get any anti-monopoly laws. Adsense didn't work for you and you are unhappy with the experience. Does some other company solution works better for you? Then switch. If it doesn't then adsense is giving you the best value for your money and I see no reason for inefficient governments to interfere with how efficient companies function. edit: I don't…
> ... with all VCs funding available today I just don't get any anti-monopoly laws.
Are you implying that there is a sum of money that could dislodge Googles stranglehold on the search (and therefore search advertising) market? Look at Microsofts efforts with showering Bing with money. If VCs could back a potential Google-killer, what is the chance that it could resist becoming swallowed by Google once the threat was apparent?
> Does some other company solution works better for you? Then switch. If it doesn't then AdSense is giving you the best value for your money
If you are reliant on AdSense and are locked out by a mistake, you're screwed. Google has total dominance, no other platform comes close.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#48EU bureaucracy logic at its best - go after google and microsoft, but we let apple do whatever they want. For me they with their closed ecosystem are both bigger danger and more anti competitive than both Google and Microsoft combined. Or at least force them to accept other web browsers in their store.
You are completely wrong. Apple has a small market share, so it doesn't matter that they abuse it by disallowing e.g rival browsers and certain apps. It sucks, but one can use Android without too many headaches. But Google search is more like a public utility than a service. It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts compet…
"It has extreme market penetration which they abuse for various reasons like prime placing for their own products. And that not only hurts competitors but in the end also consumers which will end up with only one option for maps, video sharing, etc."
Assuming they did prime place their own products, this is not a recognized antitrust harm (it is not bundling or tying, despite random claims on HN).
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#49As someone living in Europe, I think they don't realize that, in a way, Google is bigger than the European Parliament. The citizens of Europe barely take the European Parliament seriously, and there's not much reason for Google to. I happen to be a fan of Duck Duck Go. But I think Google can do without Europe more easily than Europe can do without Google. There's no need to go to extremes, either. Just like Microsoft…
> The citizens of Europe barely take the European Parliament seriously
and yet 43% of Europeans decided to vote in the last European elections. That is a higher turnout than many local/regional elections across Europe.
I guess Europeans do care.
Re: European Parliament votes in favour of breaking up Google
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple don't have anything even vaguely approaching a monopoly in any area. Their market share in everything from phones to computers is 90% for search. You can't have a "Monopoly on the contents of the iPhone app store" any more than Coke has a "Monopoly on the contents of Coke cans", and thus should be forced to fill some with Pepsi.
Yup; but it may be impacted by some privacy regulations in the future.
It may also be impacted by the weather too. What privacy regulations are you talking about?